Hackers Breach Time Warner Cable's Customer Information

LOS ANGELES – Charter Communications has discovered a data breach by cybercriminals of the private information of some of its customers.

Those impacter were Time Warner Cable customers who used the My TWC app, and the company has advised that those still using the app to change their usernames and passwords. Charter completed its merger with Time Warner Cable about 16 months ago, when Charter rebranded itself as "Spectrum."

The company wouldn't give details of the breach, but Gizmodo indicated that an estimated 4 million records were revealed, though it may not mean that it involved 4 million individual customers.

The breach was discovered last week by Kromtech Security Center while its researchers were investigating an unrelated breach at World Wrestling Entertainment, Gizmodo reported. The affected records date from 2010 to 2017. The breach is said to have originated in India at BroadSoft, a communications company that has been working with Time Warner Cable.

"A vendor has notified us that certain non-financial information of legacy Time Warner Cable customers who used the My TWC app became potentially visible by external sources. Upon discovery, the information was removed immediately by the vendor, and we are currently investigating this incident with them,” read a written statement from Charter. “There is no indication that any Charter systems were impacted. As a general security measure, we encourage customers who used the My TWC app to change their user names and passwords. Protecting customer privacy is of the utmost importance to us. We apologize for the frustration and anxiety this causes, and will communicate directly to customers if their information was involved in this incident."

A Charter representative refused to elaborate, but Gizmodo says the breach originated in India at BroadSoft, a communications company whose partners included Time Warner Cable.